Of Prickle-Snakes and Armadillo Lizards
by misszeldasayre
Summary: Meandering through the Earth Kingdom, Chong and his singing nomads run into Sokka who brings rumors of a dragon at the Fire Lord's palace.


"Sing that secret tunnel song again for me, Daddy!" Jewel said. Chong smiled, picking up his pipa. No matter how many times his daughter asked to hear the song, he never got sick of it. The lyrics were pure genius.

Jewel joined in when he reached the chorus— "Secret, secret, secret tunnel!" The woods reverberated with the sound of their music. The universe came alive in the leaping flames and thump of the djembe. Lily's flute rose above it the fire, the tent, the forest. When their song died down, Moku set down his drum, picked up a cooking knife, and asked Chong to fetch water for the stew.

Although Jewel was too young to carry buckets, she liked helping Chong with chores, so he let his daughter hop on his shoulders. Tonight, their camp was only a short walk from the river. Drifting along with the breeze at their backs and enough air in their lungs to sing, Chong couldn't help but feel the power of the journey in every rustling bough on every swaying tree. Sweet music to his ears. He started humming a tune he only half remembered. The notes greeted the first stars peeking through the treetops.

As Chong reached the riverside, Jewel by his side, he bent over to draw water. His daughter splashed into the stream, kicking up waves.

A sudden scream startled Jewel, who ran out of the stream and behind her father, clutching his legs. Chong squinted through the deepening darkness until he spotted a quivering warrior's tail and a string of curses. "Heeey!" Chong shouted in greeting. "Angry boy! I remember you."

Slowly, Jewel peeked out from behind Chong's legs to examine their visitor. "It's Sokka," the man said, wading through the stream until he came into full view. When he met Chong's eyes, he let out a moan. "Flying hog monkeys! Not you again. What are you doing here?"

"Going wherever the wind takes us!" Jewel declared. Sokka looked down, noticing her clinging to Chong's robes.

"Who is this?" he asked, pointing to Jewel.

"This is the jewel of my heart," Chong smiled. "Meet my daughter."

When Sokka waved at her, Jewel lit up. "I like you!"

Jewel's smile sparked an idea that struck Chong like a glider carving through a cloud. "Hey! Come back to our camp, dude. Eat dinner with us! The wind blew us into the same path. We should share food and song before gliding our separate ways."

Eagerly, Jewel peered up at Sokka whose face was eclipsed with a frown. "There's no way—" As he looked between the nomads, Sokka's stomach growled. "Well, okay. I guess I am kind of hungry."

Jewel untangled herself from Chong before they started back to camp. The glow of the campfire shimmered in the air as Chong brought the buckets to Moku and introduced the nomads to their guest. "Angry boy!" Moku smiled. Sokka just smacked his forehead. The smack resonated through the smoky air. "I only started on the stew a few minutes ago, so it's going to be a while before we eat. Lucky for you, we got the sweet sounds of song to fill up our souls."

Sokka sighed loudly before Jewel slipped her hand into his and led him to a log across the fire where Lily sat, flute in hand. "So what brings you floating around here?" Chong asked, joining his family and guest on a rock. "Still got a case of destination fever?"

"Well," Sokka said, rolling his eyes as Jewel ran to her father's lap. "I'm heading to Ba Sing Se to meet my girlfriend."

With all the wisdom her six years could muster, Jewel said, "You're worrying too much about where you're going!" At this, Sokka hit his forehead again, but the sound of his growling stomach drowned the slap out.

"Sandwich?" Jewel asked, pulling a half-eaten sandwich from the depths of her satchel. "I only had room for half." Moku perked up at the sight, but Sokka scrambled to snatch the leftovers. He devoured it in one bite. Nothing remained but a fuzzy piece of cheese dangling from his lips.

"Jewel, did you feed that dude a moldy sandwich?" Lily chuckled. Her daughter shrugged. So did Sokka ("Food's food," he claimed).

While they waited for the stew to cook, Chong passed around a canteen of spirits, keeping it out of Jewel's reach. "Made it myself," he whispered when Sokka reached for the bottle. His guest almost recoiled, but couldn't resist a few swigs.

"Not bad," Sokka admitted, returning the bottle over Jewel's head. "What's in it?" Chong grinned at the question and reached for his pipa, which lay a few paces from the fire.

"The juice of a moon peach, the sparkle of the universe, the fur of a fire ferret boiled in the blood of a catgator, one tear from Jewel, and the sound of a shooting star." Chong paused for a moment. The list could be hard to remember, even when he sang it. He had covered everything except... "Oh, and a lot of sake."

The mouthful of moonshine erupted from between Sokka's teeth, spraying Jewel's face and Chong's robes. "Yuck! And I thought sucking on wood frogs was gross."

Passing the flask to Sokka, Chong wiped the spittle off Jewel's nose. "Hey, man, you need to focus on the drink, not the ingredients."

As Sokka reluctantly took another sip, his stomach growled again; Jewel imitated the noise. "Ooh!" Strumming a couple of strings, Chong pressed his eyes shut. "I felt that sound in here, dude," he said, pointing to his heart as the wind swept the notes away. "The sound of destination fever eating you up. What you need is a drink and a song." Launching into a lovelorn ballad, Chong was joined by Lily on the flute and Moku, who used the stewpot and spoon to cook up a beat.

Jewel's head started to nod as the music faded into the crackle of wood, the crisp night air, the swish of the pine needles above their heads. As the stew bubbled merrily, Chong lit up his pipe, inhaling the wisdom of the universe with each drag. "It sure does feel good cooling your destination fever with soul music. We're all just"— here, he turned to his pipe for inspiration— "leaves on the wind, floating wherever the currents take us. Can you feel it, brother?"

Jewel stirred as Sokka wobbled on his log, the haze of smoke almost obscuring him from Chong's view. "I'm feeling something…" Sokka groaned as he inhaled the proffered pipe. Among his coughs, he choked out, "Whoa," earning applause from the nomads. Shaking his head, he passed the pipe onto Lily.

Careful not to disturb Jewel dozing on his lap, Chong pointed at his own heart. "Tell me what's going on in here." Fully expecting his guest to marvel at the vast expanse of the cosmos unfolding before him, Chong was surprised to see tears welling in Sokka's eyes.

"I-I…" he stumbled before emitting a wail that startled Jewel awake. "I'm angry at the Fire Lord!"

Moku nodded wisely, winking at Jewel as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Aren't we all, man, aren't we all."

"Now you're digging into the journey!" Chong said, blowing out a smoke ring so thick that it made Jewel cough. "Right on, man. Tell us why you feel this way."

The sudden rush of his emotions seemed to confuse Sokka just as much as it did Jewel. She lifted her head up from Chong's lap to get a better look at the crying man. "Gets himself a kingdom, girlfriend, and dragon, and suddenly he doesn't have time for me!"

"Dragon?" Jewel repeated.

"Ack!" Sokka slapped his forehead, drawing a laugh from Jewel. "Prickle-snake! I meant, uh, prickle-snake." Chong examined Sokka as he began to mutter to himself, swiping at his eyes. "Of course I'm blabbing about it. Zuko was right… Bites me… Pees all over… And he hides it from me like it's nothing… Like we're nothing…"

As Jewel bounced in his lap, Chong puzzled through Sokka's garbled speech. Then, it hit him: "Whoa, the Fire Lord's girlfriend is a dragon?"

Jewel perked up as Chong waited for a reply. Watching Sokka reminded Chong of watching a song spring from Lily's flute. "No, you idiot, Zuko has a girlfriend and a dragon!"

For a moment, the nomads' camp fell silent; then Jewel piped up, "I wanna be a dragon!" Stirring the stew, Moku watched Sokka closely. Chong let the insult slide, intent on finding out the truth.

Sokka sighed, drinking deeply from the flask before facing Chong and Jewel. "They left me out!" he yelped. "Stupid double date. It's not my fault that Suki lives far away. Doesn't mean I can't prance around the mountains meeting sun gods or whatever."

Jewel's eyes widened as her parents exchanged glances. "Let me get this straight, brother," Chong said between puffs of his pipe. "The Fire Lord has a pet armadillo lizard—"

"Dragon," Sokka clarified as Jewel giggled.

"Right on," Chong said over Jewel's snorts. "And he got it from a bunch of sun dudes?" Sokka just shook his head in reply. "Can you believe no one's written a song about this yet?" It might have just been Chong's imagination, but the boy before him turned green at the mention of a song.

"I… don't feel so well," Sokka muttered before turning and vomiting into the bushes, barely missing Jewel's head. He stood, sheepishly wiping his mouth. "Uh, sorry about that. It came on so suddenly—"

"Looks like you ate food from Jewel's sack," Chong chuckled. "Happened to me, too."

"Me too," Moku agreed, beaming affectionately at Jewel as he tapped the spoon against the stewpot with no particular rhythm.

"You— you knew I'd get sick and you still let me take food from Jewel?" Sokka spluttered. "I can't— this is—" Muttering angrily, he stomped away from the fire to the tent, pack in hand.

Jewel pouted as Sokka disappeared. "Daddy, I want to play with him!" Chong just shrugged as their guest stormed off to bed. The extra company was nice, but the dude was so uptight. No use convincing him to wait up for dinner. Plus, now Chong had a song to write about the Fire Lord and an armadillo lizard, battling side by side to restore peace to the Four Nations. Maybe there would be a secret tunnel involved. Armadillo lizards could dig like badgermoles, right? Idly, he strummed a few notes as the wind picked up. The pipa in his hand thrummed with promise.

"Ooh! Ooh! Sing us another song, Daddy!" Jewel exclaimed, interrupting Chong's musings. A muffled groan emanated from the tent.

Chong struck a chord on the pipa, Jewel clapping her hands with delight. "There once was a merchant…" Another chord. "With cabbages to buy." Delicate notes from Lily's flute intertwined with the strum of the pipa, and her voice rose to join Chong's. "His cart got knocked over, he let out a cry. And then with his last breath, he said one word: 'Mine—'"

* * *

 **Pro-Bending Circuit | Semifinals**

 **Team + Position: Laogai Lion Vultures, airbender**

 **Task: How your actions and interactions with someone can have positive or negative effects on you in the future, through their subsequent interactions with others**

 **Main characters: Sokka (B) | Chong (C)**

 **Prompts Used: A moldy sandwich (object) | Someone has to throw up (plot point) | End with the sentence: "With his last breath, he/she said one word— 'Mine'" (restriction) | Each paragraph's starting sentence must include the word "jewels" (restriction)**

 **Bonus: Use of my element (air)**

 **Word Count: 1856**

* * *

 **If you'd like to see Zuko receive Baby Druk from the Sun Warriors, watch Druk attack Sokka, or find out what happens when the Sun Warriors catch wind of the nomads' dragon song, check out the rest of the series posted on my teammates' accounts! The links are posted in my profile.**

 **Part 1: Double Date of Dragon Destiny (FictionIsSocialInquiry)**

 **Part 2: The Dragon's Out of the Bag (ManofManyHats)**

 **Part 3: You are here!**

 **Part 4: Nomad Discretion (FictionIsSocialInquiry)**


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